Lawmakers to vote on making the Bible Louisiana’s official state book

Louisiana could make this version of the Bible the state’s official book.

The Louisiana House of Representatives is set to vote later this week on legislation that would make the Holy Bible — specifically the King James version — into the official state book.

“This is not about establishing an official religion,” said Republican State Rep. Thomas Carmody, sponsor of the bill, told The Times-Picayune.

The state House’s Committee on Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairsl passed out the legislation earlier this month. It beat back an attempt to honor “all books of faith” instead of a specific version of the Bible.

“Let’s make this more inclusive of other Christian faiths, more than just the King James version,” urged Democratic Rep. Stephen Ortego.

Catholics do not use the King James version. Many Protestant denominations use a Revised Standard Version, or other translations intended to put Biblical verse in contemporary language, or purge it of allegedly sexist terminology.

There’s no word yet on court challenges if legislators establish the Good Book as the state book. “I think the state should consider a text that is not religious,” said Michael Weil, who heads the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.

Carmody has allowed that the Pelican State can have more than one state book. He points out that the state has several official jellies.